ot so much about the 'consonants' as the vowels

Hmm. So are you talking about the pronunciation in Persian (Farsi), Urdu, or Hindi? The Wikipedia article on Mumtaz Mahal (née Arjumand Banu Begum) gives /mumtɑːz mɛhɛl/ (link) as a pronunciation. (I really must learn the Perso-Arabic alphabet someday, so I can look things up in Persian or Urdu.) I actually hear most anglophones say it as ताज महाल. (By the way, I have always liked the term Firang for European, via Perisan and Arabic from Latin Francus 'Frank'.)


Ceci n'est pas un seing.